Sunday, September 30, 2007

We spent this weekend getting ready for the fall! I was just about to say that fall is my favorite season, but that is a lie. I love all my seasons equally, I just get really excited at the beginning of each season. So we went and got pumpkins and gourds (Marc likes to think he is a master pumpin-carver and I can't wait to post a picture of whatever he creates this year) and we also planted tulip bulbs in the garden. Here is a picture of our front porch looking all festive~And here is a picture of Lola, the future agility champion of the world, getting ready to attack some squirrels~ So vicious!

Lola started agility classes again this past week (we took the summer off from training, which she was not happy about). I really hope we can find the time to keep her in classes once Poppy gets here.

In other news - we went to Babies R Us and finsihed registering this weekend. That was torture. Almost as torturous as trying to nail down a wall color for the nursery. But I think I've succeeded at both jobs.

We spent this weekend getting ready for the fall! I was just about to say that fall is my favorite season, but that is a lie. I love all my seasons equally, I just get really excited at the beginning of each season. So we went and got pumpkins and gourds (Marc likes to think he is a master pumpin-carver and I can't wait to post a picture of whatever he creates this year) and we also planted tulip bulbs in the garden. Here is a picture of our front porch looking all festive~And here is a picture of Lola, the future agility champion of the world, getting ready to attack some squirrels~ So vicious!

Lola started agility classes again this past week (we took the summer off from training, which she was not happy about). I really hope we can find the time to keep her in classes once Poppy gets here.

In other news - we went to Babies R Us and finsihed registering this weekend. That was torture. Almost as torturous as trying to nail down a wall color for the nursery. But I think I've succeeded at both jobs.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

...when you see what our nursery looks like. I think it looks like a family of small rodents could easily be taking up residence in there (except Lola wouldn't let that fly), but it's gonna turn out really cool, I promise!

I know, we have a lot of work to do. This is my absolute favorite room of our house. It's on the 2nd floor and it's connected to our bedroom, which I think is neat. Marc replaced the windows last year and hasn't quite gotten around to doing the trim around the windows yet, but as you can see, the wood for the windows is piled up on the floor. I have a lot of great ideas but I'm all over the place with colors and styles and I can't seem to narrow it down. But suddenly the pressure is on! I'm horrible at making decisions (it took me a year to pick out my couches). My goal is to nail down my plan this weekend. We'll see.

...when you see what our nursery looks like. I think it looks like a family of small rodents could easily be taking up residence in there (except Lola wouldn't let that fly), but it's gonna turn out really cool, I promise!

I know, we have a lot of work to do. This is my absolute favorite room of our house. It's on the 2nd floor and it's connected to our bedroom, which I think is neat. Marc replaced the windows last year and hasn't quite gotten around to doing the trim around the windows yet, but as you can see, the wood for the windows is piled up on the floor. I have a lot of great ideas but I'm all over the place with colors and styles and I can't seem to narrow it down. But suddenly the pressure is on! I'm horrible at making decisions (it took me a year to pick out my couches). My goal is to nail down my plan this weekend. We'll see.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Our agency has received our dossier and it should be on its way to Vietnam within a few days. And today we got our official number in our agency's "waiting pool" and we are #11. Now, you might think that I would be bummed because the last time I talked to them and asked what our status would be if we were to get on the waiting list within a few weeks, it was #7 and because we waited so friggin' long for our I171-H, we are now #11. But I am not bummed. We are both really excited. Excited just to have a number already! Excited to be done with paperwork!

Our agency has received our dossier and it should be on its way to Vietnam within a few days. And today we got our official number in our agency's "waiting pool" and we are #11. Now, you might think that I would be bummed because the last time I talked to them and asked what our status would be if we were to get on the waiting list within a few weeks, it was #7 and because we waited so friggin' long for our I171-H, we are now #11. But I am not bummed. We are both really excited. Excited just to have a number already! Excited to be done with paperwork!

Sunday, September 16, 2007

is what I was when I pulled into the driveway Friday afternoon to see our dossier on our front porch!! It took only a little more than a week at the consulate before it made its way home. Not bad.

We had a jam-packed weekend, so we weren't able to get everything ready to send to our agency until this afternoon. Marc was in a wedding yesterday, which was a great time. And then first thing this morning, we were off to kinko's to make copies of everything, put together our picture pages and made a few final touches and then we sent it off to our agency. They should receive it Tuesday morning and then within a few days they will send it off to Vietnam! An occasion such as this calls for celebration, so we headed up to Happy Jacks in Canada for dinner with my parents tonight. Yum.

It's such a relief to have everything completely out of my hands. Now I can start worrying about the fun stuff, like working on the nursery (which needs a lot of work) and registering. More to come on the nursery soon. I'll leave you with a picture of our dossier (which Marc informed me I was crazy for taking, but I felt like it need to be documented!).

is what I was when I pulled into the driveway Friday afternoon to see our dossier on our front porch!! It took only a little more than a week at the consulate before it made its way home. Not bad.

We had a jam-packed weekend, so we weren't able to get everything ready to send to our agency until this afternoon. Marc was in a wedding yesterday, which was a great time. And then first thing this morning, we were off to kinko's to make copies of everything, put together our picture pages and made a few final touches and then we sent it off to our agency. They should receive it Tuesday morning and then within a few days they will send it off to Vietnam! An occasion such as this calls for celebration, so we headed up to Happy Jacks in Canada for dinner with my parents tonight. Yum.

It's such a relief to have everything completely out of my hands. Now I can start worrying about the fun stuff, like working on the nursery (which needs a lot of work) and registering. More to come on the nursery soon. I'll leave you with a picture of our dossier (which Marc informed me I was crazy for taking, but I felt like it need to be documented!).

Sunday, September 9, 2007

One of the provinces our agency is licensed in is Nam Dinh and you can see a few photos from a fellow bloggers recent trip by clicking here. I especially love the picture of the babies in the hammock. Maybe we'll have to get a hammock for Poppy.

One of the provinces our agency is licensed in is Nam Dinh and you can see a few photos from a fellow bloggers recent trip by clicking here. I especially love the picture of the babies in the hammock. Maybe we'll have to get a hammock for Poppy.

Thursday, September 6, 2007

My brother and SIL had a baby girl today! I just got back from seeing them at the hospital and she is adorable! She's huge - 9lbs 150z and she has really dark, almost black hair! I forgot my camera, but I'll take some pictures tomorrow and post them. I think Poppy and Amelia will be really close in age, which will be a lot of fun.

And according to Fedex, our dossier has safely arrived at the Consulate. Yeah!!!!

My brother and SIL had a baby girl today! I just got back from seeing them at the hospital and she is adorable! She's huge - 9lbs 150z and she has really dark, almost black hair! I forgot my camera, but I'll take some pictures tomorrow and post them. I think Poppy and Amelia will be really close in age, which will be a lot of fun.

And according to Fedex, our dossier has safely arrived at the Consulate. Yeah!!!!

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Our dossier came back from Albany today and within a few hours it was off to the Vietnamese Consulate in San Francisco. Our agency said it could take up to 3 weeks for it to be returned to us, but I really hope it comes home a lot sooner. And for those of you who are wondering why we are sending our dossier all over the place, I'll try to explain. There are 10 documents in our dossier (medicals forms, employee statements, police clearances, etc) and each form needed to be:

-notarized (which required Marc to bring a notary to his place of employment)

-county certified (a county employee had to check to make sure each notary was legit)

-state sealed (a state employee in Albany had to make sure the county employee that checked the notary was legit)

-authenticated (an employee of the Vietnamese consulate in California will check to make sure everything is legit!)

So it's been quite an adventure just to collect all of these documents and now everytime they get on the Fedex truck, I'm on pins and needles until they are safely back in my arms!

Our dossier came back from Albany today and within a few hours it was off to the Vietnamese Consulate in San Francisco. Our agency said it could take up to 3 weeks for it to be returned to us, but I really hope it comes home a lot sooner. And for those of you who are wondering why we are sending our dossier all over the place, I'll try to explain. There are 10 documents in our dossier (medicals forms, employee statements, police clearances, etc) and each form needed to be:

-notarized (which required Marc to bring a notary to his place of employment)

-county certified (a county employee had to check to make sure each notary was legit)

-state sealed (a state employee in Albany had to make sure the county employee that checked the notary was legit)

-authenticated (an employee of the Vietnamese consulate in California will check to make sure everything is legit!)

So it's been quite an adventure just to collect all of these documents and now everytime they get on the Fedex truck, I'm on pins and needles until they are safely back in my arms!

Monday, September 3, 2007

Tomorrow it's back to the grind - school begins and I head back to work. I've tried very hard over the past couple of days to get myself ready for this. I went to the beach as many times as possible this week, Marc and I had a fantastic day of relaxing and shopping in Toronto on Sunday and today we went to my parents for a family bbq (and they had Vietnamese ribs). I did all of the laundry I've been putting off for months, I finally went grocery shopping and my kitchen is now stocked with oatmeal and yogurt. And the one thing that I really would have had a hard time going back to work without having done, is my dossier. Thank God our dossier is done and it is slowly but surely, making its way to Vietnam. Right now it's still in Albany and it has a few more stops before it gets to VN, but I'll keep you posted. Ok, I think I can go back to work now.

Tomorrow it's back to the grind - school begins and I head back to work. I've tried very hard over the past couple of days to get myself ready for this. I went to the beach as many times as possible this week, Marc and I had a fantastic day of relaxing and shopping in Toronto on Sunday and today we went to my parents for a family bbq (and they had Vietnamese ribs). I did all of the laundry I've been putting off for months, I finally went grocery shopping and my kitchen is now stocked with oatmeal and yogurt. And the one thing that I really would have had a hard time going back to work without having done, is my dossier. Thank God our dossier is done and it is slowly but surely, making its way to Vietnam. Right now it's still in Albany and it has a few more stops before it gets to VN, but I'll keep you posted. Ok, I think I can go back to work now.